Wyclef Jean to Rap Radar: If Lauryn Hill is Into a Fugees Reunion, ‘I’m In’

Fugees fans have been hoping for a proper reunion since the group split up in the ’90s. Although the group reunited in 2004, it didn’t last and the group deteriorated before a proper album or U.S. tour.

Wyclef Jean stopped by Play.It’s Rap Radar podcast yesterday to discuss a number of topics; among them, the future of his former band.

He said that if the Fugees do get back together, it can’t be motivated by money—although there’s lots of money to be made.

“If you’re telling me you want to put the Fugees back [together]… we did The Score. The Score is monumental,” he said. “When an exec tells us ‘I need ya’ll to do a show, I’ll give you a hundred million,’ then you question yourself. If you follow the Fugees’ career, you know that the Fugees can’t be bought by nobody. Money do not come first in what we do. We could do an album and do a tour, [if] properly marketed, it would generate $600 or $700 million dollars. That’s a fact. But think about it: the money never came before the art. It will never come before the art.”

A big reason to not reunite, he says, is because they don’t want to tarnish their legacy (the reunion-era single, “Take It Easy,” didn’t hold up to that legacy). “In our minds, if it’s not with the art and with the culture, [fans will say] ‘Man, y’all should have just left us with The Score.’ Unless we feel that we can do something that’s in harmony with the three [of us], we’ll never do it.”

But how are his relationships with his bandmates, Pras Michael and Lauryn Hill? “I don’t have no bad blood with anybody,” he stresses. “It’s all love. I’m all harmony, man. All I’m trying to do is like, change the world. I’ve negotiated some pretty big things in my life. In politics, even in gangland, putting people together. So, I don’t see a problem putting the Fugees back together. It’s not a problem for me. But Lauryn is the nucleus, and at the end of the day, she has to be centered and want to do it. If she’s centered and wants to do something, I’m in. Because I know my part.”